Tokenization technology aims to mask sensitive data like credit card and Social Security numbers. Existing systems that process data matching a particular format sometimes need to be prohibited from accessing the actual data. The data itself is replaced with a “token” that appears to be correctly formatted data, such as having a correct check digit. Based on the token value, a properly authorized system can look up the actual data.
In general, untrusted systems operate only on tokens. Trusted systems that are authorized to view genuine data may submit a token to a Tokenization Server. After checking credentials, the Tokenization Server returns the genuine data to the trusted system.